


nonetheless

by Elsinore_and_Inverness



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Book: Feet of Clay, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29443050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elsinore_and_Inverness/pseuds/Elsinore_and_Inverness
Summary: When Mildred had started speaking, the Patrician stopped tracing the city skyline with his eyes.
Kudos: 12





	nonetheless

From one corner of the room the Tower of Art was visible, far too close to see the top of the tower.

In the opposite corner of the office, Mildred Easy was scraping a trivial amount of ash out of the grate. “When I think about all those lords and their feasts I don’t half wonder if the reason they never did any governing is that insulating this place is a lost cause.”

When Mildred had started speaking, the Patrician stopped tracing the city skyline with his eyes.

“There’s never any work for me to do in this office, sir. You burn nothing. Rufus dusts on account of he can’t bear not to.”

To many people this would be an obvious indication that Mildred was here for a reason and a prompting to inquire what that reason was. Lord Vetinari reminded himself of this and found the words to ask “How have you been doing?”

“Well I’m not scared you’re going to get rid of me.”

“I truly apologize that that felt likely.”

“She raised us and William was just a baby, but, you know, life goes on.”

“Foolish of me to think I could cordon off the things I use.” It was a slippery near-apology and Vetinari felt appalled with himself even as he said the words.

Mildred shot him a look that said ‘very foolish, but understandable.’ “But we couldn’t have known,” she said, meaning the servants could not have known why he was particular about odds and ends amid so many unexplained particularities.

“We couldn’t have known,” Vetinari repeated, trying to accept that the arsenic itself worked to prevent its own discovery.

“Got to be able to move on. If you can’t you don’t make it.”

Lord Vetinari squinted at the young woman. It was how most people lived, himself included, but the necessity of it was so far removed from how the world should be that it gave him pause. “Not immediately. Not here.”

“Nonetheless,” Mildred said.

You couldn’t argue with a ‘nonetheless.’


End file.
